Meeting minutes
Annual, board and special meetings.
Annual meetings, 2024 to 2026The Lake
Rice Lake has been measured, surveyed, drawn down, aerated and photographed for more than twenty years. This is the record.
Water level and the dam
Elm Creek feeds the lake, and a dam built in 1969 holds it. That dam was damaged by vandalism in 2021 and has run under constraints since: it cannot pass high flows properly. The City of Maple Grove has scheduled repairs for a 2029–30 drawdown.
- Today
- About 2 feet below normal, confirmed August 31, 2026.
- Drawdown low
- 5.64 feet below normal on October 24, 2025.
- Dam repair
- Planned by the City for the 2029–30 drawdown.
Navigation and buoys
Rice Lake has no public access, but every Minnesota boating law still applies. Volunteers set the navigation buoys each spring and pull them in the fall.
Winter aeration
A diffuser system keeps a patch of open water through the winter so the fish survive under the ice. It runs around the clock once the ice is thick enough to work on, and it needs a DNR permit, a notice in the local paper, and thin-ice signs right around the perimeter. Eleven seasons are documented.
| Season | Ran | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | December 20 to March 29 | Four diffuser openings. System extended to 1,000 feet from shore. |
| 2024–25 | December 14 to March 14 | Motor failed in January, was repaired and restarted. |
| 2023–24 | January 21 to February 12 | Shut down early as the ice weakened and signs fell in. |
| 2022–23 | Full season | A winterkill followed in April 2023. |
| 2021–22 | Full season | Winterkill after the 2021–22 drawdown. |
| 2020–21 | Full season | Chronology and photographs. |
| 2019–20 | Full season | Chronology and photographs. |
| 2018–19 | Full season | Chronology and photographs. |
| 2017–18 | Full season | Chronology and photographs. |
| 2015–16 | Full season | The earliest season documented on the site. |
Drawdowns
Lowering the lake over winter freezes and kills invasive Curlyleaf Pondweed and Eurasian Watermilfoil in the shallows. Each one needs shoreline owners to agree, the City of Maple Grove to vote, and the Minnesota DNR to issue a permit.
| Season | Status | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | Completed | Bypass opened September 22, 2025. The lake fell to 5.64 feet below normal. A survey the following June found much less Curlyleaf Pondweed and Eurasian Watermilfoil under five feet. |
| 2021–22 | Completed | The dam was vandalised during this drawdown and has operated under constraints ever since. A winterkill followed. |
| 2020–21 | Completed | Photographs and permit documentation. |
| 2014–15 | Completed | Drawdown and dam bypass photographs. |
| 2004–05 | Completed | An early drawdown in the long invasive-species effort. |
| 2002–03 | Completed | The earliest drawdown documented on the site. |
| 2029–30 | Planned | The City of Maple Grove will repair the dam during this one. |
Ice in and ice out
The association has tracked the freeze and the thaw since 1988. The DNR lists this lake as Rice 270116.
| Season | Ice in | Ice out | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | — | March 29, 2026 | Aeration ran to the day the ice went out |
| 2023–24 | January 4, 2024 | March 4, 2024 | Latest freeze and earliest thaw on record, so the shortest ice season |
| 2016–17 | — | March 7, 2017 | The previous earliest thaw |
| 1987–88 | — | March 8, 1988 | The earliest date the association holds |
The full table back to 1988 lives in the association's records, and it belongs on this page. A series that long is the kind of thing people cite.
Surveys and water quality
Independent consultants survey the fishery and the plant community. These are the documents behind every drawdown decision.
Invasive plant survey
The June 2026 delineation of Curlyleaf Pondweed and Eurasian Watermilfoil, which showed the 2025–26 drawdown had worked.
2026, PDFFish survey
A population survey by Blue Water Science.
2024, PDFZebra mussels
The DNR listed Rice Lake in October 2024 after mussels turned up on sampling plates.
2024, pressBlue-green algae
State guidance after the August 2025 bloom. Keep people and pets out of the water while one is running.
2025, PDFDocument archive
Around forty files live on the current site, reachable only through "click here" links buried in the timeline. Indexed by category and year, they become something you can actually use.
Permits and legal
Drawdown and aeration permits, bylaws, statutes.
Includes permit AERP3222Maps
Depth, aerial, storm sewer, street and property.
Six mapsMember communications
The seasonal emails sent to members.
2024 to 2026Photographs
Drawdowns, the dam bypass, winterkills, tree trimming, shoreline erosion.
2002 to 2026Website statistics
The annual traffic reports the board has published since 2010.
Seventeen years